HDMI 2.1 Spec Officially Released: A Primer

The much-anticipated HDMI 2.1 specification has been released by HDMI Forum, Inc.The new spec, which HDMI Forum announced was coming during CES 2017 with only a few details, is now available to all HDMI 2.0 adopter. The new version supports a range of A/V formats, including 8K video at 60Hz and 4K video at 120Hz. The 48Gbps bandwidth speed that was one of the few leaked bits of information earlier this year, remains in the final spec.

“The HDMI Forum’s mission is to develop specifications meeting market needs, growing demands for higher performance, and to enable future product opportunities,” says Robert Blanchard of Sony Electronics, president of the HDMI Forum.

New HDMI 2.1 Specification: Backwards Compatibility

Backwards compatible with with earlier versions of the HDMI format, the new version HDMI 2.1 specification was developed by the HDMI Forum’s Technical Working Group.

The HDMI 2.1 Compliance Test Specification (CTS) will be published in stages throughout the first three quarters of 2018. HDMI Forum says that it will notify adopters when they release CTS materials.

Increased High-Definition Compatibility

HDMI 2.1 is compatible with 4K at 120Hz, 8K at 60Hz, and 10K resolutions for commercial A/V applications.

The format includes high dynamic range (HDR) support to help ensure improved video performance with improved depth, detail, brightness, contrast and wider color gamut capabilities on a scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame sequence.

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Bob is an audio enthusiast who has written about consumer electronics for various publications within Massachusetts before joining the staff of CE Pro in 2000. Bob is THX Level I certified, and he's also taken classes from the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) and Home Acoustics Alliance (HAA). Bob also serves as the technology editor for CE Pro's sister publication Commercial Integrator. In addition, he's studied guitar and music theory at Sarrin Music Studios in Wakefield, Mass., and he also studies Kyokushin karate at 5 Dragons in Haverhill, Mass.View Robert Archer's complete profile